ETHNICITY AND THE COURSE OF OPIATE ADDICTION - NATIVE-BORN AMERICANS VS HMONG IN MINNESOTA

The authors studied the course of opiate dependence among two ethnic g roups in Minnesota, one of whom used heroin by injection and one of wh om used opium by smoking. Subjects were 57 Hmong (Laotian) immigrants and 80 native-born Americans. American subjects were more likely to be employed, had more education, younger age at onset of opiate use, hig her addiction scores, more legal problems, spent about 50 times more m oney per day on drugs, had used more treatment, and more self-help met hods. Hmong subjects were more men, more married and living with famil y, had longer periods of abstinence, and more of certain psychological symptoms. Differences were related to culture, type of opiate, and im migrant/refugee status. Similarities (e.g., types and severity of cert ain drug-redated problems, family history of substance abuse) suggeste d that certain core features of opiate dependence persist despite diff erences in ethnicity and type of opiate used.